Ming Yue emerged from her space with Bao Bao, only to see Ji Shiyou and the others.
They stood on the road below the plaza, gazing up at a mountain of meat with sorrow etched on their faces.
"So much meat!"
Bao Bao's eyes lit up with delight at the sight of so many mutated animals, and she jumped for joy.
In her eyes, these dead creatures were braised pork and sweet and sour ribs.
"Sister Ming Yue, didn't you say there were no more mutated animals within the sea of clouds? Where did you bring back a little monkey from?"
Everyone was happy to see Ming Yue appear, but upon noticing a little girl of three or four years old with her, Bu Zhi couldn't resist a teasing remark.
"Waaah, sister, I want to go back to the space and never come out again.
That stupid Bu Zhi called me ugly, I hate him to death, Bao Bao is too ashamed to show her face."
Ming Yue had spent a whole day comforting Bao Bao, but the little one thought she was ugly and didn't want to be seen.
After encouraging her for a long time, she finally brought Bao Bao out, only for Bu Zhi's words to make her cry like a flood again.
Ming Yue shot Bu Zhi a hateful glare. Why speak such a hurtful truth? Then, resigned, she continued to pacify the little tyrant.
Ba Jiu returned from the farmlands below the mountain and saw Bao Bao crying her eyes out. He walked over and offered her a strawberry the size of a small bowl he was holding.
"You're very pretty, really. This is for you. Shall I take you to play?"
"Brother Ba Jiu, am I really not ugly?"
"Not at all, you're very beautiful. They have no taste, you're the most beautiful!"
Taking Ba Jiu's strawberry, Bao Bao's crying stopped. The two little ones exchanged a few simple words, then hand in hand, they ran down the mountain, their laughter like tinkling bells trailing behind them.
"And that's it? I don't understand the world of children."
Seeing how Ba Jiu had pacified Bao Bao with just a few words, Ming Yue felt defeated. She wished she had brought Ba Jiu into the space, and she wouldn't have wasted so much time.
"Ba Jiu's aesthetic sense is questionable! If he finds a girlfriend in the future, we'll need to be very discerning.
Is this the child you were talking about needing to coax? Where did she come from? Why does she call you sister?"
Ji Shiyou sidled up to Ming Yue, watching Ba Jiu and Bao Bao's retreating figures with the sigh of an old father.
Hearing Bao Bao call Ming Yue "sister," a weight lifted from his heart, but he was still curious about Bao Bao's origins.
"What nonsense are you talking about? If that day ever comes, as long as Ba Jiu likes her, even if she's an ugly monster, I'll support it.
That's Little Sparrow Bao Bao. She was greedy in the space and stole a shapeshifting pill, and now she's transformed into human form.
You all look so dejected, what happened to make you so worried?"
Ming Yue explained Bao Bao's identity. Bu Zhi let out a wail. Bao Bao, even as a sparrow, had been at odds with him.
Just now, he had foolishly called Bao Bao a monkey, and now this feud was irreconcilable.
"Ming Yue, we're worried about all this meat. Look, so much meat, it's a real problem.
There's nowhere to store it, so it's just piled up here, making everything smell of blood.
You don't know, to consume this meat quickly, the mess hall has changed from three meals a day to four, adding a late-night snack.
Staples and vegetables have been completely removed; all four meals are meat. Everyone was fine with the first meal.
Now they can't eat any more, but they're still trying. Even so, not much has been consumed."
Jin Xi covered her nose and complained to Ming Yue, the pungent smell of blood making her uncomfortable.
"Ming Yue, it's good that you're here. Quickly put these animals into your space.
Your space can keep things fresh. If they're left out here any longer, I'm afraid they'll spoil and rot, which could cause an epidemic."
This was Ji Shiyou's biggest concern, so he urged Ming Yue to store the mutated animals in her space.
Seeing Ji Shiyou's anxious expression, Ming Yue smiled, thinking to herself, modern people are indeed modern people.
Even with extensive knowledge and strong management skills, they still lacked in practical life experience.
Everyone in the base, on the surface, had adapted to the harsh environment of the apocalypse.
But they had only accepted it superficially; they hadn't mastered the skills to survive in the apocalypse.
They were all born and raised in modern society, accustomed to high technology and the convenient life of modern times.
But this was the apocalypse, and only by learning the survival skills of the apocalypse could they live better.
Therefore, Ming Yue decided to give everyone a lesson, sharing the living experience of the ancient Wu tribe.
Back in the Wu tribe, every autumn, the tribe would organize large-scale hunts and then store the prey.
Because food was scarce during the long winter, if they didn't store it properly, they would starve.
Everyone in the Wu tribe, including children, were skilled at storing food; it was an essential survival skill.
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. She felt it was imperative to promote this skill in the base and ensure everyone mastered it.
Her space could store food, but she couldn't let people become dependent on it, as that would harm them.
That's why she hadn't put the animals into her space. Instead, she asked Ji Shiyou to gather everyone from the base.
Ming Yue demonstrated the entire process of making jerky in front of everyone. She walked up to a black bear, skillfully skinned it, removed its internal organs,
and then cut the bear meat into strips. To save time, she didn't opt for natural air-drying. Instead, she asked Wen Qingtian to use his wind ability to dry the meat strips.
The wind-dried meat strips lost their moisture, becoming tough and dark in color. They looked unremarkable but could be stored for a long time.
Then, Ming Yue summoned a ball of flame and cooked the jerky, distributing it for everyone to taste. Its unique flavor earned universal praise.
Ming Yue's intention was clear: to have everyone solve this mountain of meat with their own hands, transforming it into storable food.
Thus, everyone got to work. Metal ability users were responsible for skinning and deboning the animals and cutting them into strips.
Water ability users handled the cleaning, while wind and fire ability users were in charge of drying. Wood ability users were responsible for tying the finished products.
The transfer of materials at each stage was managed by psychic ability users, and everyone worked in concert, forming a processing line for food.
The mountain of meat visibly decreased. Ordinary people busied themselves with cleaning up garbage and scraps. Ming Yue instructed them to carefully collect the animal hides and fur.
She mentioned that she would teach them another skill later: making various daily necessities from animal hides.
This included making clothes, quilts, spinning thread, and weaving cloth. The entire base was a hive of activity.
Ji Shiyou and the others were also not idle. Gong Que used his earth ability to create drainage channels in the plaza. The blood from the washing flowed directly to the farmlands below the mountain.
This not only prevented the plaza from being flooded with sewage but also provided fertilizer for the farmlands.
Inspired by Ming Yue, Ji Shiyou increased other varieties. He asked Ming Yue for a large quantity of salt.
He led a team to make smoked cured meat, and for a time, Yunmeng Mountain was shrouded in smoke, exuding the aroma of meat.
Because so much jerky and cured meat was being made, the warehouses were no longer sufficient. Thus, any available space on Yunmeng Mountain was used to erect racks, becoming temporary storage.
From afar, Yunmeng Mountain had transformed into a mountain of meat.
While Ming Yue's base had mountains of food, Xuanwu Base was struggling to even put food on the table.